Gordon Brown To Present UN Global Education First Initiative

March 25, 2013

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now United Nations’ Special Envoy for Global Education, is to present the UN Global Education First Initiative in a high-profile MIPTV conference session, scheduled for Wednesday 10 April in Cannes, France.

The MIPTV session will be followed by a “Countdown for Global Education” VIP lunch, marking the start of the 1,000-day countdown to 2015, the deadline that the global community has set to have every child in school.

Organized by Reed MIDEM, MIPTV will take place in Cannes from 8-11 April, 2013.

As MIPTV celebrates its 50th anniversary, it is timely for the global content market to provide a platform for the international TV industry that demonstrates its potential to drive positive social change. The goal is that, through partnerships with the UN’s Global Education First Initiative, the whole TV ecosystem from around the world backs this campaign by aligning with the cause of education.

“We urgently need to create a global movement which will put pressure on leaders to make education a priority and to ensure that they keep their promises,” said Gordon Brown. “We’re seeing the beginnings of that global community already, but the television industry has a huge part to play in reaching people in every corner of the world, and communicating these issues to them in an entertaining and accessible way.”

“MIPTV is committed to support this exceptional cause, which will mobilize the entire international TV and online digital ecosystem to create a real impact that will contribute significantly to the global community,” commented Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division.

“MIPTV is an ideal venue and audience to host the UN global Education First Initiative. The UN partnership with the TV industry on education is a win-win proposition,” said Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

Featuring a video introduction from the United Nations’ Secretary-General, Ban Ki -moon, the session will present a diverse line-up of speakers, all addressing television’s power to change. David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery Communications, the world’s leading non-fiction media company, will speak on the power of television to teach. Discovery, which is also marking its 50th anniversary this year, has recently given significant backing to the UN’s education initiative and other similar programmes.

Social entrepreneur and former Microsoft executive John Wood, CEO and Founder, Room to Read, an organization promoting literacy and gender equality in developing countries, will tackle the power of television to inspire action.

The power of television to catalyze a movement will be addressed by Robert Triefus, Chief Marketing Officer of luxury goods group Gucci, which has launched the “Chime for Change” global campaign focused on girls’ and women’s empowerment. Gucci is also sponsoring the “Countdown for Global Education” VIP lunch after the session, which will be moderated by Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.

The session’s audience will also hear from Ziauddin Yousafzai , the father of Malala Yousafzai. Malala is the Pakistani girl who became a figurehead for the right of girls to education when she was shot in the head last year by the Taliban for simply going to school. A long-standing campaigner for education, Ziauddin Yousafzai runs a network of schools in Pakistan and is an adviser of the UN Special Envoy Brown on girls’ education issues.

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